"And no man taketh
this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was
Aaron."--Hebrews 5:4.

The Old Way and the New

God is a God of order.
Bible history from the days of the patriarchs to the end of the Old Testament
demonstrates this truth.

When God needed men to act
for him, he spoke to them by his own voice, by visions, by dreams, and by
angels--the living prophets were chosen of him. They spoke the words of the
Lord, as also did the priests in his service.

When the authority of the
ministry was under discussion in New Testament times, they knew of no better
example than that of Aaron to illustrate their own experience. "For every
high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to
God." (Hebrews 5:1.) [1]

As an example, Jesus, our
Divine Pattern, was submissive to the same unchangeable law of divine call and
ordination. (Heb. 5:5, 6, 10)

Called of God

Aaron was called through
the prophet Moses (Exodus 28:1). He did not "take the honor unto
himself." God wanted him for a special work and told Moses to set him
apart for that work. He was not selected by the congregation of elders, nor
because he was educated for the ministry, nor because he felt a personal call
to act as a priest. He was called and selected by God himself, through Moses.

In the New Testament, John
the Baptist was the man sent of God. (Luke 1:13-17; John 1:6) When he
baptized Jesus the Heavens spoke, "This is my Beloved Son ..." John
answered him, "Behold the Lamb of God ..." (John 1:29) The prophets
had foretold their coming and ministry. There can be no authorized ministry
without Divine declaration and appointment. The right to act for someone else
constitutes authority; and authority can never rise above its source.

Apostolic Authority

When Jesus began to build
his church he did not invent some new way. He made the "Old" become
the "New". He followed the ancient established order.

In case his disciples
should ever forget their calling he warned them: "Ye have not chosen me, but
I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth
fruit and that your fruit should remain." Also: "As my Father hath
sent me, even so send I you." (John 15:16; 20:21) They were given
authority through divine call and equally divine ordination and sent forth by
their Master, Jesus the Christ.

Jesus commanded them to:
"…pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth
laborers into His harvest..." (Luke 10:2) This was a definite indication
to His disciples that the selection of men for the ministry was not left to
there own judgment. It was reserved for God. The same Lord who said, "I
will build My Church," reserved to himself the right to set it in order
and fill vacant offices. Man is only an instrument whom God uses to labor
among men.

Paul, when writing of the
organization of the Church, said: "God hath set some in the church, first
apostles, secondarily prophets..." (I Corinthians 12:28) God set them
there and appointed their replacements when it became necessary, just as He
sustained the spiritual gifts. (I Corinthians 12:11) Man could no more call
men, set them in the Church and give them authority to administer in sacred
things, than he could give them power to work miracles, cast out devils, speak
in tongues, etc. Appointing the ministers belonged to the Lord during the days
the Church remained faithful. So does it today. One part of the Lord’s gospel
plan cannot be done away with any more than another, so long as God is in the
work. If gifts and blessings are done away, then faith and salvation must be
done away, and woe to this generation if such a thing befalls them.

The Apostolic Method

Jesus said of those he had
called to the ministry, when commending them to His Father, "I pray for
them...which thou hast given Me; for...they are Thine, and all Mine are Thine,
and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them." (John 17:5-12) It was
after "all night in prayer to God" that "…He called unto Him His
disciples: and of them He chose twelve, whom also He named apostles." No
doubt those whom He selected had been already made known to Him by the Father.
(Luke 6:12-I3)

Until the day He ascended
Jesus personally did all the work of setting men apart for the ministry. With
the removal of His earthly visible presence, Jesus promised to send them
another "Comforter...even the Spirit of Truth…" to dwell with them
and be in them. The Holy Spirit was to take the place of Jesus and carry on
His work. He said: "…He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto
you." (John 15:26; 16:13-15)

The New Testament church,
remembering the arrangement her departing Lord had made, was loyal to him.
When missionaries were needed for a special work in the days of Paul, she did
not select them by popular vote nor because of education, but went to God in
prayer and He heard her plea "to set forth laborers into the
harvest."

"Now there were in
the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers...as they
ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas
and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted
and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being
sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed ..." (Acts 13:1-4)

Barnabas and Saul had to
wait until they had been called by the Holy Spirit through the living prophets
in the Church, and had been ordained by God's recognized servants.

Paul said to the Elders
whom he called together at Miletus: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves,
and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers,
to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood."
(Acts 20:28)

Neither God nor devils
recognized those whom God had not called and sent forth. When certain men took
it upon themselves to exercise authority over demons in "the name of the
Lord Jesus," the evil spirit replied: "…Jesus I know, and Paul I
know; but who are ye?" (Acts 19:13-15) They had no divine authority to do
such work. It was only intruding, crowding out God's Spirit, trying to do the
work in man's way. Sheer presumption and usurpation!

In spite of the fate of
unauthorized ministers in both Old and New Testament times, many use the name
of Christ unauthorized today. They officiate in sacred ordinances without any
divine call or authoritative ordination. They "take the honor unto
themselves" like the "sons of Sceva," without being "called
of God as was Aaron." John, the first apostles, Paul and Barnabas, and
the Ephesian elders were all called of God "as was Aaron."

The days of which Paul
warned us have come, men have "a form of godliness but deny the power
thereof." (II Timothy 3:5) They have the form without the authority and
without the power. (Acts 1:8) No man has a right to go out unauthorized into
the world as a minister for Christ and officiate in the sacred ceremonies and
ordinances of the gospel of Christ.

"How shall they preach
except they be sent?…" (Romans 10:15)

The Plan Of God Cannot Be Frustrated

"Every good gift
and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of
lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."
(James 1:17)

"... Lo, I come to
do thy will, O God..." (Hebrews 10:9)

Today we find men who are
not authorized of God, professing to be ministers of Christ, who in turn have
brought the world into confusion. We find people today who have not so much as
heard whether there be any Holy Ghost—like the disciples whom Paul found at
Ephesus. (Acts 19) Paul at once knew they had not been properly baptized, for
no servant of God would baptize a man without teaching him to expect the birth
of the Spirit to follow the birth of the water. John told all whom he
baptized, "I indeed have baptized you with water: but He (Christ) shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost." (Mark 1:8) Therefore Paul knew John did
not baptize these men. Someone, probably, who had seen John baptizing, thought
he could do the same and went out to baptize in the same manner as John, but
not being sent of God to do that work, the blessing of the Lord did not follow.

Paul taught the men the
gospel and baptized them over again, and when he laid his hands on them
they received the Holy Ghost. This is the difference between the works of
those whom God sends and the works of those not sent of God. The blessings
follow only the ones the Lord sends to do His work.

Today, God has not left us
to wander in the wilderness without divinely authorized ministers to lead the
honest in heart out of confusion and darkness into light. God sent His
angel, John the Baptist, a resurrected being, from His presence to Earth,
John visited Otto Fetting, of Port Huron, Michigan, a number of times. During
a visit on July 18, 1929, he laid his hands on Otto Fetting's head, confirming
the authority on earth to represent Christ and His Church. (Malachi
3:1-4, 4:5,6; Matthew 17:11-15; Acts 3:21; Luke 1:16, 17, 76-79}

This revived and restored
condition of The Church of Christ made way for the ordinances of the gospel to
be taught, administered and obeyed in their purity. "... He shall
purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer
unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." (Mal. 3:3) The sons of Levi
were the ministry in the Old Testament.

The Holy Ghost is now given
in abundance to those who repent and are baptized into The Church of Christ
established anew in 1929. (Message 30:6) Men can now be born of the water and
of the Spirit, because God has given the authority and the commission to
preach the gospel and spread abroad the glad tidings. Many times the John the
Baptist has come bearing revelations from the throne of God for the people of
our day. His work is to set the Church in order and to prepare a people to be
holy before the second coming of Christ.

Words of the Messenger

"The instruction is
sent, to the wise, a warning; to the sleeper, an awakening; to the wicked,
destruction; but to the people of the Lord, a message that Christ's coming is
near at hand." (Message 3:2).

“I have established my
Church in 1929 anew. I have given the message and it must be obeyed. All else
is of man and I cannot, and will not accept the follies and traditions of men,
for My work is a holy work and man must first be made holy.” (Message 30:6)

“Blessed are the meek and
all those that consecrate themselves unto me. I will be with them, saith your
Lord, and stand you in holy places, protecting you when the great indignation
cometh. You shall be called mine when I make up my jewels. This is the Lord’s
work and man cannot do it his way.” (Message 46:10-11)

The church established anew
in 1929 is of the same origin and authority as the apostolic church in New
Testament times; twelve apostles, its leading ministers; Christ the head; signs
and wonders following them that believe, because God indeed established it.

“…the stone was cut
out of the mountain without hands...” (Daniel 2:45)